When I was brainstorming what would become the Art of Manliness back in 2008, I wanted an image that would be the site’s calling card, an image that people would see and automatically think “Hey, that’s the Art of Manliness.” I wanted it to be sort of old-school, so I scoured tons of old ephemera (magazines, pamphlets, etc) from the past 150 years to find something that fit. After hours of searching, I found what I was looking for.

It was a picture of famous 19th century bare knuckle boxer John L. Sullivan striking a manly fisticuffer pose while sporting an awesome handlebar mustache. I slapped him in the header to serve as the virile and rugged balance to the well-mannered gentleman on the other side. Together they form the two aspects of manliness we talk about on AoM.

Show Off Your Art of Manliness Pride: The AoM Pose Contest

Are you an Art of Manliness man? Are you a guy who’s dedicated to bringing back real manliness and making the corner of your world a little manlier each day? We want you to show off your Art of Manliness pride by taking a picture of yourself striking your best AoM pose.

See John L? That boxer guy at the top of the site? See how he has his two fists up?

We’ll call it the “AoM Pose” for brevity’s sake. Any person who assumes this pose will feel 100 times manlier. Go ahead–try it!

Did you feel the testosterone course through your body? Of course you did.

Are you feeling inspired now? Good. Here’s how you can enter this contest.

Deadline to submit is Wednesday, August 10, 2011 by 11:59:59 PM CDT. You can upload your photos anytime before or on that day.

Selecting the Winner

After we receive the photos, we will pick the 5 best entries and post them on the site. Starting August 16, 2011 and running until August 23, 2011 voting will be open to the public at The Art of Manliness website. The AoM Pose with the most votes by 11:59 PM CDT will be named the winner.

The Prizes

Grand Prize: For such a virile contest, we couldn’t think of a manlier prize than a large coffee brown Saddleback Leather briefcase[3]. John L. Sullivan would battle a hundred men at the same time for a hundred rounds to win such an awesome briefcase.

First runner up: Our first runner-up will receive an AoM prize package that includes our two AoM posters, an AoM T-shirt of their choice, and a signed copy of our first book The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man.

Total retail value of runner-up prize: $53

What are you waiting for? Show your Art of Manliness pride, strike your AoM pose, take your picture, and enter today!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Legal residents of the 50 United States (D.C.) 13 years and older. Ends 8/23/11. Void where prohibited. By submitting your photo, you grant AoM the non-exclusive right to use it for promotional purposes on their site and other platforms like facebook.com/artofmanliness. Basically, you maintain the copyright, and you just give us permission to publish it on the site. Capeche?

Article printed from The Art of Manliness: http://www.artofmanliness.com

[5] The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1600614620/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=stucosuccess-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1600614620

[6] 30 Days to a Better Man eBook: http://store.artofmanliness.com/products/30-days-to-a-better-man-ebook